The Issues ~

Remote Work Trending

An FKD Feature exclusive

Sitting at her desk wide awake at three in the morning, Bianca Tolentino was diligently finishing her assignments for her job. Not being able to sleep despite her long day of classes, homework, working as a management director and interning at a Church’s Children Ministry program, Tolentino felt the need to do something productive. The keyboard was clicking away as Tolentino was writing SEO descriptions and data entries for her remote work at WorkGenius. Finally finishing, she scheduled on her calendar the best time for her to write product descriptions for Wish and Postcard.com before going to bed.

“I love working remotely. It’s another way to get more money and very convenient,” Tolentino said. “I can work at any time and get experience I couldn’t get at a regular job.”

Remote work has been steadily increasing for more than a decade. According to a 2016 study conducted by Harvard and Princeton, remote work increased from 10.1 percent in 2005 to 15.8 percent in 2015. The rise of remote work is significantly expanding and will not stop anytime soon. The Future Workforce Report done by Tolentino’s remote job, WorkGenius, showed that hiring managers claimed that 38 percent of full-staff will be working remotely in the next decade. Results show that freelance and remote work will increase 168 percent within a decade.

Produces productivity

Declining productivity is caused by numerous reasons, such as busy commutes or dealing with health issues that are negatively impacting the labor force. However, remote work has shown to elevate productivity costs by solving some issues related to decreasing productivity. A total of 77 percent of survey respondents recorded that they were more productive getting work done outside of the office. Not only is the work getting done, but it is getting done faster than most would assume. The survey recorded that 30 percent of remote workers are accomplishing more work in less time than they would in an office.

Remote work is also improving the mental health and attitudes of workers. A total of 44 percent of remote workers had more of a positive attitude when switching to work at home. Stress had also decreased when workers made the switch to work at home; 53 percent claimed they saw a significant drop in stress.

Takeaway

Working remotely improves the quality of life without the long stressful commute and provides comfortability that an office cannot provide.

Even with Tolentino’s busy schedule as a full-time college student, interning and working at a theatre company, she still has the time to complete her remote job that gives her the flexibility to get her work done when she can.

Remote work is becoming a trend that will benefit both the employers and the employees.

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